The present invention generally relates to grinding devices, and more specifically to a self-contained grinding device formed of only three molded plastic elements and which is detachable from a storage container for the material to be ground.
Various grinding, grating, milling and hulling devices are known in the prior art. Typical of such devices of which applicant is aware are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.
______________________________________ 3,642,045 Buvelot 3,633,834 Nissen 3,578,253 Brilliant, Jr. 3,371,874 Reeves et al 3,347,295 Feiling 3,136,491 Posmanter 2,963,232 Smith 2,782,998 Hastings, Jr. 2,763,440 Johnson 2,688,448 Lenz 2,479,151 Bostick 2,407,808 Bivans 1,327,385 Hammer 1,264,134 Quick 1,021,950 Shepard 274,255 Barr 197,982 Seifert ______________________________________
A review of these issued patents indicates that many of the prior art devices relating to grinding or milling apparatus are generally complex in construction and, therefore, expensive to manufacture. In most of the above patents, the devices described are made of numerous elements which must be assembled during manufacture of the devices. Aside from increasing the overall expense in the manufacture of such devices, it is clear that the greater the number of parts utilized the greater the probability of malfunction as a result of one of these many elements becoming damaged such as by excessive wear thereof with continued use.
In most of the prior art devices, the mill or grinder incorporates a storage compartment which must be filled with the material to be ground. In such instances, the mill is filled from a source or container in which the material is stored. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,371,874, there is disclosed a pepper mill which may be detached from a storage container. However, the pepper mill disclosed in this patent is relatively complex in construction and utilizes numerous parts, a disadvantage above mentioned.
The remainder of the above patents are of interest only in that they disclose various structural elements which are sometimes found in grinding and milling devices of the type under discussion. However, an examination of the above references does not disclose a device which is only formed of three molded plastic elements which may be snap-fitted together to form a substantially self-contained unit which may be attached to any suitable container, such as a stock jar or a disposable container which may be connected to the grinding device and which may be disposed after all the material therein has been ground. The grinding device which is the subject of the present invention is extremely simple in construction and permits substantial reductions in the cost of manufacture thereof. For this reason, the present invention makes it possible to reduce the cost of, for example, pepper mills, which prices have in the past been relatively high because of the above-mentioned complexity of construction.